See: https://unity.earth/roadmap-to-2020/.Conversations on “Laudato Si’,” the prophetic 2015 encyclical letter on ecology by Pope Francis, on cooperation with the United Nations in the search for integral development, on the Earth Charter & the global educational movement of the Earth Charter Initiative, on indigenous & other spiritual perspectives on Earth-caring & on other leaders in spirituality and sustainability, all in relation to the need to create a regenerative, spiritual, and sustainable ecological civilizations. This event is now full.

Crestone Convergence Conference

July 23-28, 2017
Forum 21 and The Interspiritual Network, co-sponsors

See: https://unity.earth/roadmap-to-2020/.The Crestone Convergence: Uniting the Tribes for a Livable Future: Local, National and Global Spiritual Unity and Activism. A group of activists, spiritual and secular, will gather to network and share their visions for a sustainable and inclusive world. As well, they will connect personally and as a group with the foundational indigenous and spiritual energies in Crestone, Colorado and share a live music concert and other local activities. If you are a leader of a constituency in the global interfaith, interspiritual and activist community please feel free to inquire of kurtjohnsonisd@yahoo.com

Beginning in 2014, Kurt joined kundalini yogini Karuna for a number of events, programs and retreats worldwide. Karuna is a truly gifted teacher trained in general yoga and Kundalini Yoga (thru masters of the Sikh tradition, Yogi Bhajan and Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, among others) and an expert on nutrition, exercise and lifestyle. Kurt will be combining his programs on The Coming Interspiritual Age, the integral vision and world shift, silence, meditation and deep dialogue with Karuna’s masteries of yoga and wellness.

The global phenomenon known as Interspirituality includes personal and direct encounters not only between followers of the many paths of the world’s myriad spiritual traditions but, in that, intersections among the paths themselves. Wayne Teasdale stressed these two forms of inevitable cross-over throughout his seminal work on Interspirituality, The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions [ii]. Such encounter and intersection will inevitably become further amplified as the interspiritual phenomenon unfolds in the ongoing process of globalization.

In the last year we, Kurt Johnson and Karuna, found ourselves experiencing such an intersection as we encountered each other while teaching quite different “spiritual technologies.” What do a former Christian monk/scientist following the radically transcendent path of Advaita Vedanta, and a former Ford model/actress following the radically embodied path of Kundalini Yoga share in common? More than you might think. As Kurt has written in his recent book, The Coming Interspiritual Age, we can anticipate more and more cross–over between such paths, even the most unlikely.

We felt called to explore our respective paths together in the interspiritual context and began to experiment with teaching Advaita Vedanta and Kundalini Yoga side–by–side. We asked whether these paths and methods are, in fact, parallel, companion, complementary, reciprocal, or what?! These questions are even more important in light of the fact that many of our teaching colleagues actually advise their students that such paths should never be mixed. While this caution is readily understandable, our curiosity as to where this caution lies in the evolutionary process of which we are all a part propelled us forward in our experiment. READ MORE

Tracking the Growth of Mainstream Science’s Shift to Altruistic Evolution

Date: April 12th, 2016

A one-day, filmed event focused on the ethical and global change implications of mainstream science’s shift to the altruistic understanding of evolution, as summarized in David Sloan Wilson’s 2015 book in the Yale/Templeton Series in the Foundational Questions of Science: Does Altruism Exist? Culture, Genes and the Welfare of Others (DAE), featuring 20 international well-known experts and thought leaders from sacred and secular roots in a series of three (3) revolving panels that struck a balance between spirituality, ethics, environment, science, sustainability, governance, social justice, arts, economics, and more.

Host: The New York Society for Ethical Culture

Host Sponsors: The National Ethical Service and The New York Society for Ethical Culture

Interview with Steve Farrell of Humanity’s Team, Dr. Kurt Johnson and Yanni Maniates on the topic of Evolution and Spirituality, July 16, 2016

Click on the download link below to listen to the Interview or use the download link to load it on your computer.

NB At a bit past the 8 minute mark there is an inadvertent brief musical interlude

Dr. Kurt Johnson discusses the Altruism paradigm in these comments at a July 2016 United Nations side-event during the UN High Level Political Forum with thought leaders Richard Bowell and Michael Shewchuk (www.humanevolutionarychange.org).

“History clearly demonstrates that spiritual vision sustains civilization. Without such a vitalizing spirituality, the ultimate heart of religion, civilizations ultimately decline, and are taken over by other systems.” ~ Br. Wayne Teasdale (The Mystic Heart)

“Only… an Ecological Age can produce the understanding and the corresponding commitment required to stop the world of exploitation, of manipulation, of illusory money values, of mutual human abuse, of destructive violence so intense that it threatens to put the torch not only to the human city but to the planet itself. We have now acquired the power to turn the earth itself into a vast conflagration. But while we stop one world situation we must create another. Thus the need to awaken the energies needed to create a new world, to evoke a universal communion of all living and nonliving systems of the universe… What is clear is that the earth is mandating that the human community assume a responsibility never assigned to any previous generation. “ ~ Fr. Thomas Berry (The Ecological Age).

Over the past few decades a new vision has been emerging, both consciously and subconsciously, among many different peoples worldwide, both religious and non-religious. It is an evolutionary impetus that is leading us to a world consciousness that leaves behind the conflicts and rigid dogma of the magic-mythic-literalist mind-set and instead guides us into higher developmental levels that are pluralistic, holistic, and integral. READ MORE

In 2015 The Interspiritual Network, with the UN NGO Forum 21 Institute, and Althea Center for Engaged Spirituality (www.altheacenter.org) launched the From Self Care to Earth Care Initiative. Its website is at:

The program was accompanied by companion events in Denver, Boulder, Crestone, Aspen and Carbondale, Colorado. The video of Ken Wilber’s historic speech at the Denver event, now at YouTube has thousands of views:

David Sloan Wilson highlighted his historic book on altruistic evolutionary paradigm, as discussed in detail by Ken Wilber. The themes have been followed by extensive blogs and special features at Evolution Institute:

What has become known in common parlance as “The Interspiritual Declaration” includes the various Points of Agreement arising over the last decades from the growing global Interspiritual phenomenon. These are below with the sources of the conferences, associations, organizations and publications that have assembled this consensus over the last number of years.

8. Receptivity to a cosmic vision, realizing humanity is only one life form and part of a larger community, the universe.

5. Evolutionary Developmental Elements

Human consciousness and heart have been evolving toward a maximum potential regarding the kind of being humans can be and what kind of an earth we can create

This has been going on since the known origin of the cosmos, as material evolution and as evolution of consciousness

This is recognized in a fundamental tenant of the interspiritual vision, that the evolution of world religions has been one unfolding experience reflecting the gradual growth of human maturity

This trend is anchored in the universally unfolding experience of “unity consciousness” or “awakening,” the experience of profound interconnectedness, no separation, and the world of the heart

This unity consciousness has been emerging through all the world’s spiritual traditions

Historically we have witnessed this unfolding in myriad identifiable threads in the world’s philosophies and religions

This unfolding has implications for how we develop our collective skills so that this consciousness can manifest in the world in tangible skill-sets working toward global transformation

This has implications for the innumerable realms and arenas of endeavor, represented by all humanity.

[i] Updated from The Common Heart (2006) to add the ninth point from subsequent dialogues and using the combined words of Snowmass and Teasdale, as published in The Coming Interspiritual Age (2013).

[ii] Short version as adapted from Teasdale by The Community of The Mystic Heart (Teasdale’s colleagues network) and published in The Coming Interspiritual Age (2013). The original Nine Elements were not listed by Teasdale in a list but used as subtitles (with additional comments) in The Mystic Heart (1999).

[iii] As published in The Coming Interspiritual Age from the points originally elucidated by One Spirit Interfaith Seminary (New York City) and The Community of the Mystic Heart (Teasdale’s colleagues network).

[iv] Teasdales (1999) list of (Mystic Heart, p. 4-5) as further used by The Community of The Mystic Heart (Teasdale’s colleague’s network) and published in Johnson and Ord (2013)

[v] Teasdale’s major points, scattered across his inspirational (and less structured) writing style were gathered and summarized in The Coming Interspiritual Age by Johnson and Ord, 2013).

An emerging dialogue, cooperation, synergy and co-working, they suggested, would be expected to inevitably arise across persons from the world’s shamanic practices (indigenous and other), the varied landscape of “energy work”, and the contemplative practitioners that connect with ancestral wisdom keepers of their (and others’) traditions.

Brother Wayne Teasdale was himself an active part of this conversation, reflected in his comments in The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions.

In fact, over thirty members of this Interspiritual Network, including many authors and spiritual constituency leaders, had been corresponding, or speaking personally, about this for some time—actually for nearly a half-decade or more.

In 2015 we were afforded the opportunity to share our discussions– some of us directly, some anonymously– with members of a similar circle formed around the Gaiafield Network. READ MORE